Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on February 5, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures were mostly flat on Monday night as the market emerged from its weakest week in more than a month.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 were nearly flat, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%. Futures, which track the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 20 points, but were little changed.
The move follows a weak week on Wall Street as economic data heightened concerns that the Federal Reserve would not start cutting interest rates as quickly as market participants expected this year. It became a movement.
All three major indexes ended their five-week winning streaks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index led the decline, dropping more than 1.3%, while the benchmark S&P 500 index fell about 0.4%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had the smallest loss, falling by just about 0.1%.
Wholesale prices rose faster than economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected from December to January, according to producer price index data released Friday. This reinforced concerns about the persistence of inflation, which had been heightened earlier in the week after the consumer price index rose to 3.1% on an annualized basis, beating economists’ expectations and well above the Fed’s 2% target. .
“The Fed will be concerned about January’s CPI and PPI reporting,” said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank. “Inflation has been gaining momentum in recent years and continues to do so in many sectors of the economy.…January’s inflation numbers reflect the Fed’s intention to only gradually lower interest rates in 2024. That would confirm the trend.”
Tuesday begins an abbreviated trading week after U.S. markets were closed on Monday for George Washington’s birthday. Investors will focus on leading indicators and non-manufacturing economic indicators in the morning.
On the corporate earnings front, traders will focus on Home Depot and Walmart’s results before the bell. All eyes will be on Palo Alto Networks’ report expected after the bell.
